Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Hallucinogenic drug helped problem drinkers

An analysis of old studies suggests LSD may have a role to play in treating alcoholism.

The powerful hallucinogen LSD (lysergic
acid diethylamide) has potential as a treatment for alcoholism,
according to a retrospective analysis of studies published in the late
1960s and early 1970s.

The study1,
by neuroscientist Teri Krebs and clinical psychologist Pål-Ørjan
Johansen of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in
Trondheim, is the first-ever quantitative meta-analysis of
LSD–alcoholism clinical trials. The researchers sifted through thousands
of records to collect data from randomized, double-blind trials that
compared one dose of LSD to a placebo.

Of 536
participants in six trials, 59% of people receiving LSD reported lower
levels of alcohol misuse, compared to 38% of people who received a
placebo.

“We were surprised that the effect was so clear and
consistent,” says Krebs. She says that the problem with most studies
done at that time was that there were too few participants, which
limited statistical power. “But when you combine the data in a
meta-analysis, we have more than 500 patients and there is definitely an
effect,” she says. In general, the reported benefits lasted three to
six months. Their findings are published today in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Psychedelics
were promoted by psychiatrists in the 1950s as having a range of
medical uses — to treat conditions such as schizophrenia, for example —
before political pressures in the United States and elsewhere largely
ended the work.

“Alcoholism was considered one of the most promising
clinical applications for LSD,” says Johansen.

Alcoholics Anonymous
co-founder Bill Wilson is said to have espoused the benefits of LSD
in
the book Pass It On: The Story of Bill Wilson and How the AA Message Reached the World.

In
the last decade or so, however, a new generation of researchers have
been interested in harnessing the therapeutic benefits of illicit drugs —
such as (MDMA or ecstasy) 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) for
post-traumatic stress disorder, ayahuasca for drug and alcohol
dependency, and psilocybin, the active ingredient in hallucinogenic
mushrooms, for smoking cessation.

The snow globe of perception?

How
psychedelics exert such effects, especially after a single dose,
remains unclear. LSD and its chemical cousins share structural
similarities with the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is linked to
many aspects of mood, memory and pleasure. These psychedelics also bind
the same receptor sites in the brain as serotonin, but there the
similarity may end — studies have shown that the hallucinogens elicit
chemical cascades different from other compounds that bind at the same
receptor2. To complicate matters further, LSD also acts at other receptors3.

For
the moment, studying human behavioural responses rather than brain
chemistry may be more helpful in understanding how the drugs work.

Robin
Carhart-Harris, a psychopharmacologist at Imperial College London who
has researched how psilocybin could treat depression, says that
psychedelics must work at both biological and psychological levels.
“Psychedelics probably work in addiction by making the brain function
more chaotically for a period — a bit like shaking up a snow globe —
weakening reinforced brain connections and dynamics,” he says.

Roland
Griffiths, a behavioural biologist at the Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, is investigating the
influence of psilocybin on smoking cessation, and says that psychedelics
sometimes give rise to distinctive, insightful experiences that can
produce enduring positive changes in attitude, mood and behaviour.

“This
is impressive and important work,” says Matthew Johnson, a psychiatrist
also at Johns Hopkins University who is now running a small trial
looking at the effectiveness of psilocybin to treat nicotine addiction.

“Although this meta-analysis does not replace the need to test the
approach in new, well-designed and rigorous clinical trials, it puts
some more muscle behind the interpretation that the older literature
shows hints that psychedelic therapy might really help addiction.”

However,
Ken Checinski, a consultant addiction psychiatrist and independent
researcher based in London, says that although the results are exciting,
no pharmacological treatment should be seen as a magic bullet and that
modern therapeutic techniques have improved.“The included LSD trials
pre-date the use of psychological techniques such as motivational
interviewing and cognitive behaviour therapy,” he says.

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About Me

Jennifer believes we live in the garden of Eden and I believe that we are destroying it. Our saving grace is within ourselves, our faith, and our mindfulness. We need to make a conscious effort to respect and preserve all life.